LETTER: Letter wrong on many counts

continued  Ms. Banyai accuses Linda Young of “misrepresenting” the Salina trapping process, insisting Animal Control sends a letter to residents advising them of the impending action, and if their pet is trapped, they just call and get it back. In fact, it is Ms. Banyai who is, at best, misinformed. The letter informing residents of trapping in her area was sent in early July, several weeks after trapping had begun. Owners of trapped pets must pay a fine of $170 to retrieve each cat, even though there is no evidence the cat did anything illegal.

The Banyais have indicated their preference “ . . . to eradicate the cats for good,” an impossible undertaking — although TNR, the gold standard for dealing with cat overpopulation, has never been formally undertaken in Salina.

Spending the $20,000 budgeted to kill cats in her neighborhood at $150 each might make this taxpayer happy, but what about others? Salina can’t afford to kill that many cats, especially given that this temporary “solution” is what they have been doing for the past five years and it hasn’t worked yet. As we have repeatedly advised them, this expensive, ineffective approach will need to be repeated indefinitely.

The bottom line is, should the taxpayers of Salina be required to cater to every cat hater’s paranoia at a cost of $150 per cat? Or are there better uses of those funds that would benefit all taxpayers?